Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) / Into It. Over It.

Split [7-inch] (2010)

Brian Shultz

This other volume of Into It. Over It.'s Twelve Towns series features Midwest emoters Empire Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate). That band actually kicks off Side A with their lone contribution, "If We Had Found You Any Later, You Would Have Drowned". It's a predictably lilting, yearning track where a lowly, twinkly instrumental builds until a minute and change in when meekly sung melodies finally come in. It's pretty typical fare for the band, so if you routinely dig what they do, this shouldn't be an exception. If you find their earnestness a little grinding, this isn't likely to change that.

Into It. Over It. have two cuts: "Buffalo, NY" and "Brenham, TX". The former is an acoustic/electric hybrid with an intentional layer of muffling that begins to clear up halfway through, like sun breaking through clouds. It's one of the more memorable II.OI. compositions, with Evan Weiss offering a serious hook via a mere bit of vocal inflective. The latter's hardly awful either, though, a mostly fuzzy, easygoing romp.

This is a short one (nine minutes, to be precise), but a consistently enjoyable one.

STREAM
split 7" EP